DVDizzy Forum

David Heyman and StudioCanal are reteaming for a feature film adaptation of the classic family book The Secret Garden. Heyman will produce with Rosie Alison through his Heyday Films banner. They have tapped Jack Thorne, arguably the UK’s most in-demand writer, to adapt Frances Hodgson Burnett’s beloved story.

Heyday Films and Studiocanal’s new take on the classic children’s novel The Secret Garden has found its director. Marc Munden will helm from a script penned by Jack Thorne. Shooting starts in the spring with Studiocanal fully financing. David Heyman will produce via his Heyday banner with the company’s Rosie Alison producing alongside him. The picture will be out to cast soon.

Principal photography is getting underway Monday on Studiocanal and Heyday Films’ The Secret Garden with Colin Firth and Julie Walters starring.

Set in England and based on Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1911 book, The Secret Garden tells the story of Mary Lennox (Dixie Egerickx — Genius), a prickly and unloved 10-year-old girl, born in India to wealthy British parents who never wanted her. When her parents suddenly die, she is sent back to England to live with her uncle, Archibald Craven (Firth), on his remote country estate deep in the Yorkshire moors. There, she begins to uncover many family secrets, particularly when she meets her sickly cousin Colin (Edan Hayhurst — Genius), shut away in a wing of the house. Together, the two damaged, slightly misfit children heal each other — partly through their exposure to a wondrous secret garden, lost in the grounds of Misselthwaite Manor. Walters will play Mrs Medlock, the head housekeeper at Misselthwaite. Amir Wilson has also joined as Dickon with Isis Davis as Martha.

David Heyman and Rosie Alison are producing. Jane Robertson (The Danish Girl, Bridget Jones’s Baby) will co-produce. Studiocanal’s Didier Lupfer, Danny Perkins and Dan MacRae are exec producers. Studiocanal developed the film, is fully financing and will distribute in the UK, France, Germany, Australia and New Zealand. It will start sales in Cannes.

Munden says, “This is a fantastical reimagining of The Secret Garden. I can’t wait to explore it. It’s an opportunity to immerse ourselves in an uncanny and wondrous world, which will play to the imaginations of adults and children alike.” After their collaborations on the Paddington movies, Heyman adds, “I’m delighted to be working again with Studiocanal on The Secret Garden, brought so vividly to life by writer Jack Thorne. I’m excited that our director, Marc Munden, will be bringing his distinct imaginative vision to this enduring childhood story. And I could not be more thrilled that Colin Firth and Julie Walters have joined the journey, alongside a remarkable new trio of young actors.”

STXfilms has secured the North American distribution rights to Studiocanal/Heyday Films’ The Secret Garden, the Marc Munden-directing family adventure film starring Colin Firth, Julie Walters, and young actress Dixie Egerickx as Mary Lennox.